Song of The Day: Charlotte Gainsbourg – Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes

29Jan10

Charlotte Gainsbourg is one talented woman. I’ve always had a vague idea of who she was. But she demanded my full attention after absolutely killing it in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to see as much of her work as possible. Sadly, I didn’t realize she was a musician until last Saturday.

It was then that brooklynvegan.com wrote about first live show ever (hit the link for pictures and their thoughts from the show, as well as the music video for Heaven Can Wait). Apparently, her latest album, IRM, dropped in December and I completely missed it. Lucky for me, some kind soul decided to bless me with a copy this morning and I’ve been listening to it all day. Good but not great the first time through, IRM will grow on you with every listen. Her vocals coupled with the raw, unprocessed production work together to create a haunting and ethereal tone throughout the album.

The standout track is, without a doubt, Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes. It’s so sick, I had to listen to it twice and post it to my Tumblr immediately. With its impeccable use of strings and drum breaks, it’s only matter of time till someone samples it. I can already hear Ghostface going hard on a RZA remix of this. An incredibly addictive album, this will stay in the rotation for a long while.

Yeah, for me the stand out track (see below). I was looking for translations, found your posting the the english version below…. And that kinda sad as it’s not written by them, but overall the lp is still very strong….

When one is dead than one is dead
When one no longer laughs, they no longer live
When I will have cut the twine
Put me in a garbage can
Let me hang a month
And from there throw me to the cat
Who will refuse my spleen and my liver
But choose the hour for him to eat my heart
And I still stay with you
On your shoulders and your knees
Which I will be because it is necessary to exist
The cat of the Cafe Des Artistes

And if the bread goes missing
I shall be there and do not hesitate
To break my legs and neck
And then eat me like the cat
It will not be the first time
That they will have eaten an artist

When one is dead than one is dead
When one no longer laughs, they no longer live
When I will have cut the twine
Put me in a garbage can
And then they forgot me there
There there there there there there there there
As they forgot the cat
As they will forget my head and my songs

It will not be last time
That they will forget an artist
And then they forgot me there
There there there there